Hitherto, a system of the optical integrator using two lens plates has been known as an optical system for uniformly illuminating a rectangular illumination area of a liquid crystal light valve or the like. The system of the optical integrator is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 3-11806/1991 Official Gazette and has already been put to practical use.
Ordinary projection displays, which use liquid crystal light valves of the type adapted to modulate polarized light, can utilize only single kind of polarized light. It is, therefore, important for obtaining a light projected image to enhance the utilization efficiency of light.
An object of the present invention is to propose a luminaire suitable for using in a projection display or the like, which uses a liquid crystal light valve of the type adapted to modulate polarized light, as an illuminating system.
More particularly, the object of the present invention is to propose a polarization luminaire that is provided with a system of the optical integrator and a polarization conversion system and can efficiently utilize polarized light and further can achieve uniform illumination. Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to propose a projection display provided with this newly proposed polarization luminaire.